[tommyboy]

Guga is in Lyon, France for an indoor tournament. He lost last year to Ljubicic the eventual champion in straight sets. Kuerten has to play Younes El Ayanoui of Morrocco in the first round this year. This is a tough first round match. El Ayanoui is a physical player, hits the ball hard, and runs everything down. Kuerten will need to be near or at his best to win this one. If Guga even gets past him, he has Safin lurking for him in the quarters.

I believe in Guga. I also believe that every match he plays is part of his learning curve, and every match he wins is a confidence builder. I believe that next year is his reestablishment to the top. For this to happen, he has to finish well during the indoor season. I am sure Guga understands this. He is a determined young man. He will come through for his fans.

 

[Dissident]

Safin is gonna play Gasquet.
I wouldnt like to draw these french young guys never! Look what Paul-Henri just did!

Anyway, Guga´s draw is not easy, but his game clicks well when he´s playing Younes. Im waiting for an interesting matchup.
And Ill get it on tv!

Ill let you all know how it went.

 

[tommyboy]

Hitman,

What you said about Mathieu makes sense. I saw him at the French Open, and he almost took out Agassi. Agassi actually could not outhit him from the backcourt at all. He won with intelligent plays, hitting well placed serves and returns, and lobs and dropshots; these are the veteran plays mastered over time. Mathieu needs to use these in match situations. I have not seen him since the French Open, and I wonder if he got better in these areas.

About Gasquet, I saw him in the qualifying round#2 of the US Open, and he is pretty advanced for a sixteen year old. He kind of reminds me of Edberg. Beautiful one-handed backhand, agile, moves well side to side and forward, well-conditioned, and competes hard. I would love to see him on grass. He is not powerful enough to be in the top 50 yet, but things could change in just 6 weeks because young players just grow competitively in short periods of time. Because of his youth and partisan French crowd, he may do well against Safin. His game that I last saw tells me that Safin has little to worry about.

I envy you that you get to see Guga on TV. Here in the states, Lyon is just not big enough an international tournament to broadcast. I wish it was not the case, though. Enjoy the tennis, man.

Go Guga!

tommyboy

 

[Leo7]

Kuerten def. 5 El Aynaoui 6-7, 6-2, 6-4

great win! El Aynaoui has been playing so well recently. keep it up, Guga.

 

[TennisHack]

In all of our ecstatic happiness over Juan Carlos's win tonight, we also celebrated Guga again defeated the Vowel Man :fiery::fiery:

Keep it up, Guga!! We're cheering for you!!

 

[Dissident]

Great win. It sucks that my VCR got screwed and I cant tape the matches. Ill do my best to get my mother´s borrowed.

Stupid time they put the match. I couldnt get to see a minute of it! And it was on tv! :fiery: And I couldnt tape! :fiery: Now I cant tell you how it went.

I READ that Guga played well and never lost a serve during the match. And the "Vowel Man" was runner-up last year, so it must have been a tough match.
Now on to Rosset.

GO GUGA!

 

[TennisHack]

Indeed, he lost the first set in a tiebreak, and then broke Younes :fiery::fiery: in the last two sets.

That sucks that your VCR messed up, I was hoping you could give us reports Oh, well, the important thing is, Guga's still in it!

GOOOOO GUGA!!

 

[tommyboy]

To Hitman,

I am sorry you had a bad day with your VCR. I hope you can get the problem fixed.

To all Guga fans,

I saw the score on the net with Younes leading a set to love. I left to do other stuff. I came back on the net expecting to see a losing score for Guga, and am nearly in tears seeing the winning score. Maybe Guga/Marat quarter if both get past their respective opponents. More points for Guga's ranking! That is #1.

If Guga can win an indoor Masters this season in proceeding weeks, that would be the most awesome thing. Guga at present has four different Master's Series to his name, Sampras five, and Agassi six. If Guga can win an indoor Masters this season, his rank will rise into the top 20, he would equal an accomplishment of Sampras, and his fans would be happy. I am getting ahead of myself, but this is my faith in Guga talking. To all fans, Keep the faith! Peace out! Ha!Ha!

 

[Billabong]

Guga's the best! he will win the tournament! Great play from Guga!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 GUGA you ROCK!

 

[kallrose]

Tommyboy, I'm with you - I'm leaping ahead and hoping for a major win for Guga at a Masters Event. I believe he has the capability to go far, not only at Lyon, but at the last two Masters (even if I'm dreaming, it's a damn good dream).

Go Guga!!!

 

[Dissident]

Guga played well in Lyon before, so it seems like its favorable to him. Rosset is someone you never know what to expect. If Guga can stay focused, though, I guess he wont have problems.
I wont talk about titles yet, though.

Good luck to Guga, and heres to me getting a VCR. lol

 

[tommyboy]

Safin has just done his job in beating Wayne Arthurs 6/4 4/6 7/6(12-10), saved two match points. Now it is Guga's turn to beat Rosset tomorrow. Well I certainly hope he beats Rosset.

Seems like Marat's gloves are off, and he is more than just sparring. I like him, but I like Guga more. As it is written, so should it be: Guga beats Rosset for a great quarterfinal on Friday against Safin.

 

[TennisHack]

Guga can handle Rosset, have no fear

Another Guga-Marat match would be amazing!! And hopefully better-played on Marat's part than at the US Open

GO GUGA!!!!

 

[tommyboy]

VivalaSeles,


I can not believe what you are saying. Are you saying Marat is your favorite after Guga? I certainly feel this way. I do not like the match-up either but that may be the future of tennis as we speak. This year's US Open match was the first one-sided match between them; otherwise the others were final set decisions.

Both are the two nicest guys. I always say that if Marat came before Guga, he would be my favorite, but he did not. I still like him a lot. My mom is crazy about him. We have affectionate nicknames derived from my language for them both. Marat is Poetten which means dumb, little boy; this is not meant to be offensive at all, just implies he is simple-minded and sweet. Kuerten is Kuutten which means nice little boy. Go Kuutten!!

tommyboy

 

[hail2guga]

Tommyboy, those nick names are funny.

 

[tommyboy]

Basically, we have a Kuutten vs. Poetten quarterfinal after all.

 

[Dissident]

I feel the opposite. I like both players (needles to say Guga first... ), but I LOVE to see them play eachother.
Mom will HAVE to give me that VCR now! :fiery:


GO GUGA!
Ill give you a report on this match. My busy week is over, and now we´re on hollydays. Time for rest, and TENNIS!

 

[Lily]

wow! Guga won 2 tie-breaks. congrats!

I love and hate Guga-Marat matches. I love them cause I adore both guys and I hate them cause someone has to lose And yes, Tommyboy, I was so surprised at their USO match cause it was so one-sided. Well, I have no idea who will take it tomorrow. Marat seems very determined to become #1 for the year so we know he'll be really trying this time. And Guga seems to be back in form. I only wish we were able to see it here. It's not fair that we don't get so many of the European tournaments.

looking forward to your report, hitman.

Vamos Guga!!!

 

[Dissident]

Im gonna be in the scores section with live updates, if someone is interested.

 

[tommyboy]

Hitman,

I went to the scores section of the ATP, and there is problem with hardware or something. Basically, I can not imagine how you are going to update us at all. If you find a way that would be awesome.

tommyboy